


A Journey to (Never) Remember

by Voidcoffee



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Cute, Friendship, Travel Sickness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2019-03-06 04:37:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13403610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Voidcoffee/pseuds/Voidcoffee
Summary: Rita won a holiday to a faraway planet and who better to ask than your boss, right?! There's just one little, unforeseen issue: Juno gets space travel sick. Welp.





	A Journey to (Never) Remember

“OH! And mista Steel, I heard Serus has the biggest greenhouse around! It has flowers and trees and food and did I mention flowers aaaan- Mista Steel, are you alright?”

 

Juno stumbled to his bed, hands trailing the dull metal bar above it. The mattress was old, stains of who-knows-what turning it into one of those paintings made entirely from squares and primary colors. The blanket wasn’t much better; frayed edges, tears and, geez, even more stains. The pillow was the only bit that looked anywhere in the vicinity of ‘fine’. The PI sat down on a part of the bed that didn’t look like it belonged in a dishwasher and held his head in his hands, pressing his eyes shut. The veins on the sides of his face pulsed like the engine of the ship him and his secretary currently found themselves on.

 

Juno felt sick travelling at the best of times, but on a ship held together by superglue and duct tape? Hell, it was unbearable. As the ship rattled out of the solar system, Juno’s brain seemed to rattle out of his head. It was hard to hear any thoughts over this, but one managed to slip through.

 

_“I should’ve brought painkillers.”_

 

Juno groaned, bearing his teeth in an ugly grimace. “Yes, Rita. I’m fine.” He slowly let his breath escape from his lungs. “Is the ship doing a barrel roll?”  
“OOooooOoOoH no, mista Steel, this is bad! I-I’m gunna get the captain or someone!”

 

He sighed. “Just get me some water, Rita. I’ve been through worse.” He set his hands behind him on the bed and scooted back. Turning slowly, he lied down.

 

_“Nope. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. That’s worse. That’s waaaay worse.”_

 

So he sat back up, pulling himself up on the woven steel of the bunk above him. He rubbed his eye, which only made the nausea worse.

 

“......Mista Steel, do you suffer from space travel sickness?”

“No, Rita, I’m just not feeling great.”

 

That was a lie. His travel sickness was the main reason he never left Mars. There were ships that pretty much negated it, of course, but they were expensive. Too expensive. The only reason he was travelling now was that Rita won tickets to Serus on one of the Kanagawa’s game shows. But, it being the Kanagawas, ‘no expenses spared’ became ‘most expenses spared’ and now they were on a wreck of a ship on their way to a faraway planet where they’d stay in a wreck of a hotel and get a breakfast worthy of a corpse. After this trip, he’d be a wreck. Not that he didn’t feel like one now.

 

He frowned and took a deep breath, slowly releasing the filtered air through his nostrils.  As he did, a plastic object got smashed into his face.  


“I brought the water, mista Steel!!”  
“Damnit, Rita. Water goes through your mouth, not your nose.”

 

Grumbling, he tried turning the bottle cap. He groaned, putting all his available strength into it (not a lot) and the only thing he managed to open was his hand. Great, now there’s blood (not a lot) on his hand. He threw the bottle at the wall opposite him.

 

Rita stared at him, the corners of her mouth pointing towards the floor. She tilted her head slightly, using one hand to keep the loose strands of hair out of her face. Mista Steel looked tired, pale, frustrated: the whole package. She couldn’t always tell when he was lying, but she sure could now. Her friend Deanna from second grade had space travel sickness too. She also had a house. And one friend. Huh. She made a mental note to introduce Juno and Deanna to each other; they sure seemed to have a lot in common.

 

Of course, then she realised Deanna passed away like five years ago. Juno might be dead inside, but he’s fine on the outside. So far.

 

Rita bowed down to pick up the bottle, her flower-pattern dress flaring around her knees, and opened it. Geez, mista Steel must be really sick if he couldn’t even open this little thing, she thought. She offered the water to Juno, who refused. Somehow, the lady still had some dignity left. Quelle surprise.

Rita kicked the lady’s knee and suddenly his dignity was gone. As was the band-aid on his knee. Juno nodded a ‘thank you’ and took a swig. And another. And another. Wow, who knew he was capable of drinking a clear liquid that isn’t alcohol.

 

Water helped. Not a lot, but still. It didn’t take long before he’d drunk the whole bottle. Rita smiled gently and sat down on the bed next to him. She put his arm around him, and…

 

Juno pushed her arm away and ran stumbling to the small bathroom in their cabin, his hand in front of his mouth and his cheeks inflated. He barely managed to open the door before he fell to his knees and felt a burning liquid rise up his throat. “Damnit damnit damnit,” was what went through his head as he grabbed the edges of the toilet seat, closed his eyes and just let it go. It wasn’t pretty.

 

He stayed there, heaving, for a couple more moments. Groaning, he threw his arms at the sink and hoisted himself up. He didn’t even bother to look in the cracked and dirty mirror; He knew perfectly well what he looked like and didn’t feel like checking. He clenched the sides of the sink, his knuckles white and his breath trembling. All he wanted right now was the go home. Go home, eat microwave noodles, drink and fall asleep with his clothes on.

 

And yet, he dragged his sorry ass back to his bunk and sat (well, fell) back down next to Rita. He rested his head on her shoulders, his eyes closed and his breath as steady as he could manage right now. If he had to be here, here on this horrible ship on the edge of the solar system, he was glad he was there with Rita. Rita made it all just slightly less horrible. She always did. After his first encounter with the Kanagawas, after being beaten to a pulp by mobsters, after he got fired by a customer, after….after Peter. She had always been there for him.

 

He treated her like crap sometimes, he knew that. Self defense, he told himself. Don’t let anyone get close, he told himself. And yet, she always came back. She was the only person who seemed to care if he’d live or die (That was a lie. There was one other person.). And that for forty creds an hour. He cared about her a lot, too. He just… wasn’t very good at showing it. His care was things like paying her when he had no reason to, sending her home early, not telling her he actually hated the color orange whenever she painted his nails.

 

By placing a blanket on his shoulders, Rita broke Juno’s train of thought. Juno told himself it was fine, it was going nowhere anyways. She placed her arm around him and pulled him closer. A scent of chamomile and vanilla. Warmth. Home hundreds of millions of miles away from home. It didn’t cure his space travel sickness, but dang if it didn’t help.


End file.
